Man weds girlfriend who accused him of rape, HC bins FIR

The prosecution too did not raise any objection for quashing of the FIR.

The Bombay High Court Tuesday quashed a First Information Report (FIR) filed against a 25-year-old finance professional for rape and cheating. The FIR was lodged by a local police station after his 22-year-old girlfriend, now wife, filed a complaint with Khar police station.

JusticeV M Kanade and P D Kode were also informed by the man that the couple mutually tied the knot and that there “was no promise breached”, and the FIR was registered as a result of a “misunderstanding between the man and his wife.”

On February 18, 2014, the FIR was registered by Khar police against the man at the insistence of the woman under Sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating). He was consequently arrested and produced before a magistrate court the same day. He was remanded to police custody by the magistrate court.

The petition, filed by the man through lawyers Mahesh Vaswani, Suhail Shariff and Gaurav Mane, stated that the couple knew each other for the past four years.

As per the petition, the couple were inclined to marry, however, there was a delay in their wedding which prompted the FIR. After his arrest, he secured bail on February 21. The woman was in shock of the arrest as she had never intended to have him arrested and jailed, and nor was there any refusal to marry on part of the petitioner.

“After a few days of his release on bail the petitioner and the woman married with consent of their parents and family members at the Shree Vishweshwar Temple, Bandra, Mumbai. The couple was blessed by their parents and family members,” the petition said.

The petition further said the couple had married to “prove the strength and honesty of their love ”. “Their parents have sworn their consent and joy towards the said marriage, they have no differences any more between themselves, have amicably married each other and by which they can now proceed to live a happy married life,” the petition seeking quashing of FIR read.

The prosecution too did not raise any objection for quashing of the FIR.